The position of Minister of Official Personnel Affairs was extremely important. Even if Li Mu was a favored official, the Empress would not let him make the decision.
However, Xiao Ziyu was still worried. He asked, "If I may ask, who would you like to nominate?"
Li Mu actually wanted to nominate Zhang Chun. After all, he owed Old Zhang a lot of favors. If he became Minister of Official Personnel Affairs, he would have the right to apply for a five-sectioned house from the Imperial Court. He would have servants and maids.
However, the Minister of Official Personnel Affairs was a third-rank official. He was now a fifth-rank official. No matter how he skipped a rank, he could not let the Shendu Medallion directly promote him to Minister of Official Personnel Affairs.
If it was not Zhang Chun, it did not matter who else was. Li Mu thought for a while and said, "Liu Qing, the Assistant Minister of Rites."
It was sad to say that after being in the Imperial Court for so long, others had formed cliques and cliques, but he did not even have anyone to do so.
In fact, when it came to nominating for the position of Minister of Official Personnel Affairs, he could only think of Liu Qing, the Assistant Minister of Rites.
Xiao Ziyu looked at Li Mu in surprise and said, "The Assistant Minister of Rites has just been promoted. Isn't it too frequent to promote him to Minister of Official Personnel Affairs in such a short period of time?"
Li Mu looked at him and said, "Why don't we give this opportunity to Lord Xiao?"
Before Xiao Ziyu could answer, Zhou Xiong immediately said, "Liu Qing is Liu Qing then. He's currently at Rank-4. It's fine as long as he has the qualifications to be nominated for Rank-3. You're meddling too much, aren't you?"
Liu Qing had just been promoted to assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites not long ago. In principle, it was impossible for him to be promoted to minister of the Ministry of Personnel in the near future. In this way, the uncertainty of the last position could be eliminated. Wasn't nominating Liu Qing much better than Li Muzhen nominating a capable and experienced official?
Although Zhou Xiong did not like Li Mu, he would not blindly oppose him at a time like this.
Li Mu looked at the other three officials of the Secretariat and asked, "I am just randomly nominating someone. Do the other three have any thoughts?"
The other three secretaries shook their heads in unison. Wang Shi said, "Let's listen to Sir Li."
Both the new and old parties were determined to win the position of Minister of Personnel. It was useless for them to nominate him. Li Mu and Liu Qing were neither relatives nor friends. Nominating him was just to make up the numbers. Since it was just to make up the numbers, it didn't matter who made up the numbers.
Under Li Mu's forceful intervention, Zhou Xiong and Xiao Ziyu made a compromise, and the candidate for the Minister of Personnel was finally decided.
Zhang Huaili said, "Next, it's the two assistant ministers' turn."
Xiao Ziyu quickly added, "It's best if the position of assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel is taken up by an official familiar with the Ministry of Personnel's affairs. It's more than suitable for the position to be replaced by two ministers of the Ministry of Personnel. There's nothing else to discuss."
The other three officials from the Secretariat still did not express any opinions. In the past few years, the Old Party had already built the Ministry of Personnel into an iron bucket that was impenetrable. The two directors of the Ministry of Personnel were also officials from the Old Party through and through. They would not easily let others interfere.
Li Mu looked at Xiao Ziyu and said indifferently, "In my opinion, we should ask His Majesty to reduce the number of officials in the Secretariat."
Xiao Ziyu did not know why Li Mu suddenly brought up this matter. He asked, "Why?"
Li Mu said, "Because Lord Xiao alone is enough for the Secretariat. You alone can make the decision for the important matters that require six Secretariat Secretaries to discuss. The few of us are paid by the imperial court, but we don't do anything for the court. We really feel guilty …"
Xiao Ziyu's face turned red. Li Mu was blatantly saying that he acted arbitrarily.
Zhou Xiong was somewhat gloating. He said, "Lord Xiao is too domineering. Why don't you just decide on His Majesty's behalf who will take these two positions …"
Xiao Ziyu's face darkened. "Then what do you think we should do?"
Zhou Xiong said, "It's very simple. The six of us will each nominate one person. The last person will be decided by Assistant Minister Liu or Lord Head of the Secretariat."
In any case, the new party would not be able to get either of the two assistant minister positions in the Ministry of Personnel. He did not mind muddying the waters so that the old party would not be able to get them either.
Zhou Xiong's words pushed him to the opposite side of everyone. Xiao Ziyu was silent for a moment. He could only say, "That's fair. Let's do it this way …"
It was rare that the two assistant minister positions in the Ministry of Personnel were decided by the seven of them.
The positions of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice and Minister of Works were also contested by two people who represented the interests of the old and new parties. Under Li Mu's efforts, a few other people also received a few nominations.
The other three officials of the Secretariat finally felt a sense of participation.
This was actually the norm in the Secretariat. The reason there were six officials of the Secretariat was not only because they corresponded to the six ministries, but also because these six people belonged to different factions. This was to prevent one party or one faction from having too much say in important matters of the court.
In the past few years, the court officials had taken sides, forming the old and new parties. They each occupied the court, and the structure of the Secretariat was also affected. It was practically Zhou Xiong and Xiao Ziyu's opinions.
This situation finally changed after Li Mu came to the Secretariat.
Under the protection of Her Majesty, the old and new parties could not do anything to him.
After the six officials of the Secretariat decided on the candidates for the positions, they handed them over to the Assistant Minister of the Secretariat and the Head of the Secretariat. If the officials of the Secretariat had no objections, they would send them to the Ministry of Martial Arts. After the Ministry of Martial Arts verified the candidates, they would hand them over to the Empress to decide on the final candidates.
Among them, there were restrictions on the monarch's authority and also restrictions on the monarch's authority.
For officials of this level, even the Empress could only choose from the people appointed by the Secretariat. The Secretariat only had the right to recommend but not the right to decide.
Of course, the past emperors all had their own trusted aides in the Secretariat. This way, many things were still decided by the monarch.
Li Mu tidied up the memorials and sent them to Changle Palace. He placed them on the table in front of Zhou Yi and said, "Your Majesty, these are the candidates for the Minister of Personnel, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and the Minister of Works. The Secretariat has already chosen them. Please take a look."
Zhou Yi flipped through the memorials on the top, picked up the red brush, and asked, "Who do you think is qualified for the position of Minister of Personnel?"
Li Mu said, "This is a matter of great importance. Your subject does not dare to speak carelessly."
Zhou Yi thought for a moment and was about to circle a name when Li Mu coughed softly.
Zhou Yi paused. The tip of the brush brushed past that name and stopped above another name. Li Mu coughed again.
The tip of the brush continued to slide down.
Cough.
Cough.
Cough …
After several coughs, when the tip of Zhou Yi's brush stopped at the last name, Li Mu finally stopped coughing.
Zhou Yi circled the two words "Liu Qing". Li Mu smiled and said, "Your Majesty is wise. Although Liu Qing's qualifications are somewhat lacking, he does not form cliques and does not pursue personal interests. This can prevent one clique from controlling the court through the Ministry of Personnel and causing chaos in the court …"
After Zhou Yi circled Liu Qing's name, he handed the brush to Li Mu and said, "You can choose the rest."
Li Mu took a step back and said, "Your Majesty, you cannot do this. If others know, they will think that your subject is taking advantage of your favor and interfering in the government. Your Majesty should choose …"
Zhou Yi glanced at him and said, "You are one of my people. Your thoughts are my thoughts. Tell me what you think."
Li Mu no longer hid anything. He walked to her side and said, "Your subject knows that Your Majesty does not want to be Emperor and does not want to be trapped in the Imperial Palace. However, your subject believes that if Your Majesty wants to leave the court, the first thing Your Majesty should do is take control of the court. For these important positions, Your Majesty should consider placing officials loyal to Your Majesty and not officials from the old or new cliques …"
Zhou Yi said lightly, "Right now, I feel that there is nothing bad about being Emperor."
Li Mu lowered his head and glanced at her. Right now, she felt that being Emperor was not bad because he had helped her do the things that an Emperor should do. He had also helped her worry about the things that an Emperor should worry about. Apart from showing her face at the morning court every three days, had she ever fulfilled any of the duties an Emperor should have?
Li Mu dared to complain about this in his heart. If he said it out loud, the Empress might come to find him in his dreams tonight.
Li Mu cleared his throat and said, "As for these candidates, I can give Your Majesty some suggestions. The Minister of Personnel is Liu Qing. As for the two Assistant Ministers, one can be given to the Wang family. As for the other, I recommend Zhang Chun. Sir Zhang has always kept himself clean and has never been associated with the old or new cliques. As long as Your Majesty gives him a house with five courtyards and a few maids, he will work for Your Majesty …"
"As for the Assistant Minister of Justice, I recommend the former Minister of Justice, Yang Lin. Although he seems to be from the old clique, there is still room to rope him in. Letting him be the Assistant Minister of Justice can also appease the old clique and lessen their unbalanced mentality of losing the Ministry of Personnel …"
"Finally, the Minister of Works. Although this position is not as important as the Minister of Personnel, it is best to have it in the hands of one of our own. For this position, I recommend the North County Governor, Chen Zhengyuan …"
…
After Zhou Zhong's matter, the six important positions were empty. This affected the hearts of countless people in the Imperial Court.
To quickly calm the hearts of the people, the Secretariat immediately recommended a batch of officials to become the candidates for those important positions.
Amongst them, who the three officials of the Ministry of Personnel would end up in was something that both the old and new cliques cared about.
The final result would affect which party would control the Ministry of Personnel in the future and influence the Imperial Court to the greatest extent.
The Secretariat did not have to wait for long before the Changle Palace had a result.
The current Assistant Minister of Rites, Liu Qing, was moved to the Minister of Personnel.
Zhang Chun, Imperial Clan Temple Governor, was moved to the Left Assistant Minister of Personnel. At the same time, he held the positions of Imperial Clan Temple Governor and Imperial Clan Temple Governor.
Wang Xing was moved to the Ministry of Personnel as the Right Assistant Minister.
The Minister of Justice, Yang Lin, was promoted to Assistant Minister of Justice.
The person who was chosen to be the Minister of Works was even more surprising. It was the North County Governor, Chen Zhengyuan. Very few people in the Imperial Court knew this name.
Apart from the selection of the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice as expected, the final selection of the other important ministers were all shocking.
The Secretariat.
Looking at the name list that returned from Changle Palace, the names behind the few important positions were actually the officials that Li Mu used to make up the numbers. Xiao Ziyu and Zhou Xiong reacted at the same time.
"Not good!"
"We fell into a trap again!"
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